Deadly military plane crash in rural Mississippi

The 15 Marines and a Navy sailor killed in a military plane crash on July 10 in Mississippi came from around the country. Six of the Marines and the sailor were from an elite Marine Raider battalion at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

“It is a tight-knit community, made up of some of the most highly trained, dedicated Marines I have ever known,” Marines Special Operations Command Deputy Commander Col. Stephen Grass told reporters in North Carolina Friday. “As a team, as a family, we’re going to pull together to see this through.”

Nine of them were based out of Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York, home of a Marine Aerial Refueling and Transport Squadron.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said the final set of remains was recovered Thursday from a farm field where the KC-130 crashed Monday. Remains were flown Thursday to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where military officials say they will be processed by Air Force mortuary personnel and then released to their grieving families. (See full AP story)